Walking Chalk

“Organized religion" is quite a curious term, isn't it? I have been active in church employment at many times in life. I know clergy and other religious professionals too well to expect of them supernatural behavior or constantly visionary thought. They are people first, as are we all. I am not devastated at every small slight perpetrated by them.

But sometimes, I can still be stunned at the things clergy and lay churchpeople alike come up with as expressions of what the church should be about. Some are sure that churches (and other nonprofit organizations) would do much better to be run lean and mean like businesses. They may feel that disguising that approach as "tough love" or "accountability" makes it somehow holy or noble.

One of my evolving social ideas is that people subject others to whatever code of behavior they feel subjected to by God. If they feel that God expects them to walk chalk and fly straight, they feel justified, even obligated, to steer people toward this rigid form. If people feel that God loves, and creates in love, and calls us to co-create in love, they likely enfold fellow human beings (and animals and others) into this embrace of life's flow.

How does your belief of God's expectations influence your view of others?